Fallen Angel
by akashichin
Summary: Sasuke knew. He knew that in the end, it will still be darkness; that it will always be darkness. He just wants to believe otherwise.


**Disclaimer: This is my suckish attempt at tragedy, or is this angst? I don't know, I just listened to my friends. **

**Sadly, I don't own the characters here, just the plot.**

**I thought of the plot when it was Sunday and raining. I just woke up from a nap and was hungry then I thought, hey, why not write a story of something **_**not**_** happy?**

**So here it is… (Don't flame, I'll definitely flame back… My friends will anyway)**

_**Fallen Angel**_

_Sakura heard the news; Naruto's the one who told her before the blonde rushed out of the hospital knowing that she'll just be on his trail following him. Suddenly, their last confrontation flashed back to her mind like it just happened._

_She chuckled humorlessly from the memory._

…

Sakura ran through the thick forest only to stop in a clearing.

It was at crack of dawn and the sky is still dark, only starting to get clearer now.

She stopped and started walking as if the place and time was all just a coincidence, but yet it was compelling her to stop and just take her time in getting home.

She just came from a relatively easy mission and she finished it earlier than the time given thus she has more time to just relax outside the village.

_--They say at dawn, there's always a new hope._

She smiled and looked up the sky.

Assassination.

That was the mission.

Her Anbu mask was still placed over her face, remembering this; she took it off and put it at the right side of her hip.

Sakura knows that this is breaking the rules of being an Anbu but she just can't seem to bring herself to care at the moment.

Suddenly, rustling of leaves were heard and a few kunais had been thrown at her direction. She dodged all of it easily making the sharp projectiles embed themselves in the tall tree behind on her right; Sakura was actually expecting it to happen the moment that she stops at that particular clearing.

The pink haired nin glanced at her left where a silhouette started to materialized from the darkness of the forest beyond.

It revealed none other than _him_.

_--Your existence isn't needed, or I want to believe otherwise._

_**--Nice to see you again, I hope my presence isn't bothering you.**_

The person who threw the offending kunais at her and so fortunately missed was none other than the only Uchiha survivor, her former teammate and supposedly love of her life.

It was confusing why he had to miss if it was damn obvious that he could have thrown it at a much faster speed and actually hit her. But nevertheless, it was none of her business and she doesn't plan on changing that any time soon.

"Sasuke" she greeted with a monotone.

Sakura kept her face emotionless, using the mask that she worked on especially for missions and this kind of occasions.

The person didn't make a move or a sign that he heard her but she still knows otherwise.

"I didn't think I'd see you somewhere inside the Fire Country. Exploring, are you?" she asked.

The Uchiha still haven't made any gestures to show that he's going to start talking soon and so Sakura just continued to ask questions.

Ones that she knows she wants to know the answer to but probably won't be able to.

"Are you done with your first life goal?" she questioned.

Sakura then gave out a bitter laugh, "Of course you have," she murmured with a tone soft but laced with mocking, not for him, but for herself; for asking such a stupid question.

_--I'm stupid to have asked._

_**--You're not. Blame me instead.**_

"You killed Orochimaru already and Itachi's dead." The pink haired medic-nin turned Anbu stated "The Akatsuki had been destroyed and Madara Uchiha had died not too long since then."

She continued.

Continued about the simple and basic facts that she knew, he knew.

When finishing, Sakura took a deep breath.

She just wants to get this over with and yet she feels that she won't be able to take a single step away from him if he isn't the one to turn his back first.

Finally, after what seems like a century to her, he spoke.

"Sakura" he acknowledged her presence as he just saw her and gave a light nod to her direction.

_--I don't need your attention._

_**--But I want yours.**_

The corner of Sakura's lip twitched upward but it was gone just as it appeared.

"I'm glad you finally notice me."

"Ah." Sasuke answered like the old times, only this time, the two of them were not acquaintance anymore; they were simply two different persons who used to know each other and now are enemies.

"What happened to you?" the rosette murmured under her breath.

_--Every breathe that I take is another stab to my heart._

_**--We're both alive, and hurting.**_

Sasuke again chose not to answer her or plainly ignored her.

Sakura sighed and finally broke out of the mask that she wore.

"You changed. A lot. I know that. But why? 'Why didn't you just stay with us', is what I want to ask but its pointless now. We can't turn back time even if we want to."

_--Remorse is useless and nothing will happen with our 'what if's'_

_**--I know**_

"Indeed." He answered.

"But you know what Sasuke? I never knew you'd be something like this." Another sigh escaped her "I always saw you as an angel; you were always so hard to reach and you were so unattainable. You were an Uchiha for god's sake, of course you're hard to reach. But now…" she trailed off.

Sasuke kept quiet but he continued on listening to his former teammate.

He has a quite vague curiosity of what she's going to say and how she's going to finish her sentence off.

But he also knows that there's still a chance of her just letting the sentence hanging off like that.

"I don't know you anymore." Sakura said in conclusion.

_--I never did._

_**--I don't blame you.**_

"Nobody did." Sasuke stated voice calm.

Sakura smiled bitterly, "A fallen angel. That might fit you now. You didn't go the right path and now you're just lost."

"That might be right but there was nothing angelic about me" the avenger retorted.

"I fight and kill. I ended my own brother's life without knowing that I just committed a big mistake. I'll take a person's life without hesitation and second glance. I don't care if I have blood on my hands and I don't have a conscience. Lastly, I wanted so much to gain more power and achieve my life goals that I went as far as turning my back on people who actually cared for me and went to a snake that only wants to use me for my heritage. Now tell me Sakura, how did any of those made me an angel?"

_**--I never did and I never will be.**_

_--In my eyes, you still are._

"I don't mind." The rosette Anbu-nin said softly.

The darkness surrounding them completely dissipated and the early morning sun shone brightly at the horizon.

The two just stared at each other.

Lost on the other's eyes and their own thoughts.

Finally, Sasuke turned more passive and cold than he was earlier; willing his cold façade to close up the crack that Sakura brought when she showed up.

He looked at her, and with last parting words, he was gone.

_**--I might not come back, but I'll never forget you.**_

Wind rustled a bit to the direction where the ebony haired Uchiha went but when it stop, the clearing was back to its calm atmosphere.

Sakura hesitated before finally pulling up her mask and headed back to Konoha with Sasuke's last words still ringing in her ears.

"_You'll see me again,"_

…

_Sakura snapped out of her daze and stop dead on her tracks._

_People were crowded in a circle near the gate. Naruto was already out of sight._

_She continued walking nearer to the crowd, pace getting faster by every step she takes. When she's finally near them, the pink haired nin pushed her way in without even apologizing for pushing or shoving anybody._

_In the middle, she smiled ruefully at the sight of it all._

_In the heart of the commotion, he laid there, unmoving. But even in his deathly pale complexion that shows how true the statement was, he still looks amazingly beautiful._

_A fallen angel._

_At that moment, Sakura saw the truth in his last parting words._

_True, she did see him again, now, but he never said anything about him seeing her._

…

Sasuke turned around and stepped into darkness.

He knows that even if he wants to return to his old life so much, it will still be darkness.

Because deep down, Sasuke knew that the moment he swore to get revenge on Itachi, it will all be darkness.

Darkness that welcomes him, darkness that consumes him and darkness that will finally put an end to him

He chose darkness and in darkness he will stay until his last dying breath.

…

_Sakura didn't notice it but a single tear went down from her eye._

_She may not know it and may not want to admit it but the day she saw Sasuke Uchiha laying on the ground in the arms of his own best friend, her heart, that she so carefully mended over the seven years that the person who caused it was gone, is now shattering again into millions of tiny little pieces before her very own eyes. But this time it was different, no, this time it isn't because of his death that she will shed tears, one tear is enough to suffice all that he'd done to her._

_Now she's shedding tears for herself because once again, she wasn't able to do anything while her heart shattered in front of her. She just stared and watched._

_Stayed while she knows that she's slowly dying inside because the angel she once knew had finally fallen completely._

_**-E**__n_**d-**

**That's it, don't forget to review! I'll give you chocolate if you do.**


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